The 13th Orbital Frame
by Giovanni Bacardi
Summary: Life is a fickle thing. Fate is something you don't mess with. I on the other hand did and suffered and now my life has changed. Here's my story in a time I don't belong in, a place that is foreign to me, and with machines that I thought were only fiction
1. Change Is A Bitch

Disclaimer: I do not own or in any way have any affiliations with Zone of the Enders except for the fact that I like it and I feel like writing a story about it. The idea of Orbital Frames does not belong to me but to Konami.

Chp. 1 Change is a Bitch

Wassup y'all. Name's Damien Cortez Lorenzo . My real name, that is. I wasn't much, just some shmuck who lived on the east coast. A kid with a possible future but I had to take it into my own hands. A good family but I never realized it. Wonderful friends but I shunned them. I was your average kid with issues of his own that he should have taken care of when he had the frigging chance, not when it was too late. And when I mean too late, I mean too late. But then again, you never know what happens tomorrow, you never know what might come your way.

I was the type of person that considered himself an atheist and a man who could not stand the fact that his fate was controlled in someone else's hands. I don't mean to be prejudice again those that believe in God, by all means, believe what you will. It's just that I'm the type of person that rather believe in his own strengths and skills other then relying on someone else to help. That, nine times out of ten, not only gets me in trouble, but makes me one hell of a stubborn mule. It gives me a sense of pride that I can rely on my own skill but also gives me a sense of weakness. It's a catch-22 basically.

But so far I've learned to deal with it. It gets in the way, but hell, what can you do but go on. Shit, I sure as hell wish I could now.

It was a clear morning. February 23rd, 2004, about 7:40 in the morning, when I left my quaint little house to head to school. Going up Duncan road, over to my friend's bus stop, I was wearing my usual wardrobe of blue baggy pants, a dark blue shirt with black dragons lining the bottom edge of that shirt, a big black coat and nice, spiffy, black combat boots. Oh and I mean the military issued ones. The ones that I, ahem, borrowed from my dad who happens to be in the military.

Anyhow, I'm just strolling up there like usual with my c.d. player blaring in my ears. When I get to the bus stop, which is the corner edge of this quaint little yard, I drop my mesh book bag and wait for the bus. Now this is in February and in North Carolina, it's a bit chilly there in the morning. So I'm freezing my ass off, like the past three months I've been here, and I turn to my left and see one of my best friends walking up the street like a slug, wearing his usual dark clothes and jacket. Then again, what else is new.

I considered him one of my best friends not because he was loyal or chivalrous, ready to aid me at any moment I might require. No, he was one of my best friends because he was a down-to-earth black man. Both me and him had many things in common and we spoke like men who knew each other for ages. We'd cuss at each other, argue, debate, laugh, anything and everything that resembled friends. I guess I didn't realize how much he was of a friend until he was gone. Then again, not many people realize that until it happens.

"Sup David." Will spoke nonchalantly.

"Sup man." I spoke just as indifferently.

Yeah, at first, this is how we start our mornings. Then we get into conversation about some things.

Will started first. "You saw 'Witch Hunter Robin' last time?"

I turned to him and grinned, "I swear that is the shit man. I mean she frigging lit her hands up like if she was nothing."

"Of course, not before getting pinned against the tree from bombarding…… What was she shooting at her?" He asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked down the street. "Hell if I know. I do know one thing. They were like fucking blades on that tree."

"True, true." Will spoke eloquently. Then looking back down the street he came from, he saw his younger brother Darren. He ran his hand through what was left of his extremely low-trimmed haircut and yelled out to Darren, "Hey!"

"What?!" Darren yelled back.

"You got any lotion?! I'm ashy!" Will yelled.

I turned to the side and murmured, "Ashy ain't the word, buddy."

"Hee hee hee. Hairy ain't the word for you either." Will shot back grabbing the lotion bottle from his brother. Then getting his necessary amount, he gave the bottle back and started to rub the lotion onto his arms.

Me on the other hand was still freezing my ass off in the cold air. It was now 7:50 a.m. and that meant the bus driver was over five minutes late. That gets me pissed off.

Derran, wearing just a short pink shirt and long black pants, walked past me and stood around like an idiot. Honestly , I considered him an idiot with that stupid pink shirt, which reminded me.

"Darren?" I asked.

"Sup?" He replied.

"What the hell is up with that pink shirt man? I mean, it's pink." I asked him.

"Let's not get into that again." Darren turned to me, "Remember last time we spoke about that?"

I thought about it for a moment and said nonchalant, "Nope."

"Whatever." Now he resumed to his usual standing around.

Yep, the mornings was always this boring. But what do you expect? A circus? I'm a man who adores his sleep and when I don't get enough sleep, I get very…..normalized, I guess would be the word for it.

Soon, the sound of a vehicle came from down he street but it was only some S.U.V coming along. I was just about to put my headphones on so I could listen to some Linkin Park when Will asked, "You finished taping those DVD's man?"

I sighed, a little peeved that he would ask right when I want to listen to my music but answered him, "Not all three of them. I got finished with Excel Saga soon after you left and then had Berserk going as I slept."

Will got that look of worry on his face but I reassured him.

"Don't worry man, I checked it this morning. It's alright." Truth be told, I never did check it. This was our main mode of communication really, basically we lie our brains out to each other. Unless, it really mattered. That's when we could tell when we were lying, if at the moment we needed to lie. It's hard to put into words and it's a rudimentary form of speaking but for the most part, when the time comes, we can trust each other.

"Just wondering, cuz I ain't paying for another day of late fees. That shit's 1.50 per movie, per night. That adds up quite quickly too." Will pointed out. Another thing about him that I found funny as well as interesting is, he worries about money. I'm not talking about balancing his money and using it efficiently, I'm talking about if someone owed him 15 cents, he would get that 15 cents back.

I looked around for the school bus and only found a 'half Twinkie' rolling down the opposite way. Now it was 8:00 and it's still cold and annoying. Finally, like a beacon of Hostess goodness, the full Twinkie bus labeled 526, came around the corner and stopped at the first bus stop.

"Finally." I whispered to myself. Then again, this was how it always was. She was late most of the time, and then the time you think she would be late, she comes around earlier. Aggravating but at the moment, it was the only mode of transportation.

I walked up to the edge of the street, as did Darren, Will, and three others that rode our bus. The loud and annoying, Megan. The louder and larger Elizabeth, and the boy that nobody notices till something happens or you just don't notice him…….forgot his name. Anyways, the bus rolled its way up the street to us and we got on. Me and Will took our seats on the second row from the front and everyone else, bah! They took their own seats wherever they could find them. Yeah, we had our own damn seats!

But soon in the ride, I got bored and decided to listened to my music. Reaching for my jacked-up headphones, I was a hair close to music time. Until Will tapped me on the shoulder.

I sighed as I stuffed the headphones back in my pocket knowing that if I tried to listen to my music and him at the same time, it won't work, so I turned to him. "What man?"

He looked at me and calmly stated, "You remember that time you 'supposedly' had that dream about that three-hundred dollars in that can of Pringles?" He emphasized on the supposedly.

I groaned aloud and responded, "Dude, that was like one of those one time things. And I honestly did have that dream about finding that money." (Yes this actually did happen.)

"Yeah well, even though I don't really believe you namely because you said that about two days later, your mom was missing some money." He pointed out shaking his finger.

I banged my head against the seat in front of me and answered, like the past who knows how many times we've had this conversation, "That was a coincidence, and the amount we found was nowhere near the amount she lost. Supposedly, she lost about twice that amount." I turned to the window, cause I have the window seat, I can't live without that window seat, really don't know why, but then remembered something else. "Oh, and apparently it wasn't that much of a big deal because in about two or three days, she was quiet about it. She hasn't mentioned it since then and that was about two or three years ago."

Will shook his head and said, "Nah, more like one year ago."

"And the point of this conversation is?" I spat angrily.

"I had a dream too." He said, solemnly.

My face said more then my mouth as I turned back to him.

"I'm serious! I had one of those dreams and it wasn't pretty." Will said apparently worried about it.

I groaned again because usually, this was the time that I get about 25 more minutes of precious sleep time. Damn, I loved that sleep time. Don't get it much now. OH, drafting away from the story. Sorry.

"So oh physic one!" I said irritated, "What do doth seeith in me future?"

Will glared at me and said, "Bacon!"

Now this was a little inside joke between the two of us.

"A pack of Bacon!" I shot back at him.

Basically, Bacon was a word that Will started using a long time ago and for the longest time I had no frigging clue what the hell he was saying.

"Bacon sizzling in a skillet!" He stabbed back.

"Damn." I cursed silently.

It was really weird at first because when he started using it, it just dumbfounded me. As do a lot of other things but this one took the cake.

I mused for a moment at myself and then said, "A pack of Bacon sizzling in an ivory skillet with a silver spoon!"

Will cringed back in false agony, "Ah! Touché! "

Basically, Bacon meant anything and everything we wanted it to be at that moment. It was weird but when two 16 year-old high school students get bored, you'd be surprised the things they can come up with. But now I got interested in what Will was going to say earlier. Little did I know that it would change my life in so many ways.

Will got that serious look, a look that was extremely rare for a man of Will's caliber, and looked straight forward. "Well, it's basically like this." He braced his arm against the seat as the Bus lurched to the and as the driver righted it, Will started on his little premonition.

"It was weird. It was almost like what the day starts for us on the weekdays."

I cocked a brow up in confusion then he said, "You know, as the school day starts. We head up to the bus stop, we talk, bus comes, we get on, so forth and forth."

By now, I was half-way to sleeping. Will noticed this and said, "Well then if you don't want to know how your life may end then don't listen to me."

That would have gotten my attention, if only this wasn't the 21st century and me being a 16 year old kid who really didn't care about death at the moment. But Will caught my attention with his story because his mind came up with something creative other then ways to sniff his hamsters rear-end….I won't get into that.

"And then?" I asked curious.

Will looked around, trying to ignore me. Though once seeing as I was serious as well, he decided to continue. "Anyways, I remember that we were riding on the bus just like this and we were talking when you pulled out your headphones to listen to your c.d. player I guess."

This was getting more boring by the second, there wasn't anything weird about this dream so why tell me about it?

"I do remember one vivid detail from that dream." Will stated.

As I reached for my headphones so I could drone him out, I asked, "And that detail was?"

"They were broken." He said flatly.

That's when I froze and realized that something was up. One thing was for sure, Will ain't no Miss Cleo and I know he wasn't at my house the other day so he couldn't have known that I broke them. Right? I don't recall telling him on the phone either.

I grabbed my headphones but didn't take them out. If what Will was saying was true, which would have been very different then your usual day, then what about that comment he made earlier? The whole 'losing your life' shit.

Closing my eyes for a moment in an attempt to get the sleepiness out of them, I clutched my headphones tighter and then asked, "Anything else about this dream that was different? Maybe I don't know, the date or perhaps someone was doing something stupid like usual? O.k. maybe not usual but you know what I mean."

He tapped his index finger on his chin, then started stroking it.

"Damn it Will, could you please stop doing that?" I demanded irritated. It was another thing between to the two of us. "You're not going to get any hair there by stroking it." Being Puerto Rican had it's advantages. Hair growth comes a lot quicker and a bit more then for other people. He always hated that about me.

"I'm not doing anything." Will pointed out. He continued to stroke his chin and then said, "I'm entering my thinking stage."

"Will you have no thinking stage. Neither one of us do." I said sarcastically. For the most part, it was true. We did have the proper faculties, it's just we never really used them. We were lazy and it required a bit too much energy to use our facilities. Of course, that explained our grades, though not really bad, not good enough either. Oh well, wouldn't really matter in a few minutes.

"Ha ha ha." Was Will's sarcastic answer, then after attempting to remember parts of the dream, which was difficult for him having the memory of a goldfish, he did get something. "I remember that your headphones were broken on the right side. Does that count?"

As I turned to Will, I realized that this was one of those 'oh shit' moments that my mom tells me about all the time. I pulled out the headphones and showed them to Will who in turn didn't like what he was seeing. They were indeed broken on the right side like he said they were.

Both me and Will started laughing awkwardly. Will though was talking through his laughter, "Wow, isn't that a interesting coincidence."

"Oh yeah!" I replied, "That's a big coincidence. In fact, I'm curious."

Will finally stopped laughing and shook his head, "Yeah?"

"How did this dream end?" I asked ever so curious.

Will waited for the bus to stop at an intersection and said, "Oh, well if I remember correctly, a car came and hit your side."

"Ah." I said now trying to scoot away from the window seat, you know, just in case. You can never be too careful.

The light turned to green and the bus lurched forward. And go figure when I turned to look out the window, a truck came from across the street,, screeching to a halt mere inches from the side. In turn the bus halted to a stop as well.

I nearly jumped out of the seat and almost tossed Will out the way. When I got up from a near crippled position on the floor, I looked around and saw that half the bus passengers was still upside. It seemed funny at first. The dream nearly came true. But now realizing that my life could have ended there, I proceeded to do what any grateful human person would do. I turned to the driver and started yelling.

"The hell's wrong with you damn it! Shit I almost bit the dust!" I knew technically it wasn't her fault but I had to let off some steam.

"Ah shut the hell up!" I heard from the back.

I turned to where the voice sounded from and barked, "Bite me asshole!" Didn't know exactly who it was but at the moment, didn't give a flying fuck at the moment either.

I climbed over a few struggling bodies and sat back down looking outside the window. There was a truck there with the engine steaming. Must have overheated? But why did it try to run the red light?

I felt a hand grab my shirt and nearly pull me back down to the floor. I whipped around and saw that Will was under Crystal, my next-door neighbor and senior, trying for dear life to get out from under her. I laughed as I helped him up and then sighed as he sat back beside me.

"Damn bitch. Your dream nearly came true." I said rubbing my head from a bump I must have gotten.

Will coughed a few times and turned to me. "I swear you pissed off someone up there."

I laughed wholeheartedly considering that was most likely true. I wasn't one for divine beings as I said earlier. But it was an odd coincidence, like everything else today that most of Will's dream came true. Slouching in my seat, getting into a relaxed position for my upcoming nap to school, if we ever got there in time, my eyes slowly shut to the ever near darkness. This event meant something. At first I had no idea what it was. Of course, you can never predict divine intervention, if it truly exists, nor can you understand it's true meaning at first glance. What I do know is that whoever decided for a truck to hit me must either have one of two things. Some serious bad aim, or a very sick sense of humor. Reason I say this is because all I remember from that day was the screeching of tires, and me opening my eyes to window again only to see a second truck veer out of what seemed like nowhere and ram the first one at high speeds. One thing was for certain, I got my nap. Darkness seemed to consume me right then and there.


	2. A War In Another World

Chp.2 A War in Another World.

Wind whistles to the east, twirling through the air like a ballerina. The sun reaches the horizon, pushing itself out like a beacon to the ocean that it watched over. An ocean that was once green and pure, now made of sand. The cold air that accompanied the night now moved away from the sun, fearing it's heated gaze and once more, as so many times before it, the hot moist desert air came as the cold left and claimed it's rightful place over the lightly colored sand. This was what was left of the tropical paradise known as northern South America, Brazil. What once was a fruitful and beautiful forest now laid as a desert wasteland completely and utterly void of life.

Here one of the most heinous atrocities to humankind happened and therefore signified the possible end to all of humanity and the beginning of the biggest war ever. But humanity is strong and like a cornered rodent, it refuses to quit. No matter the odds.

As the tempered heat of the sun continued to bear down on the sand, a sound is heard off in the distance. An eruption of power that seemed to engulf the sky in a haze of light blue and green color giving it an surreal look. Then as it covered the sky, objects started to appear over the horizons to the east and the west.

On one side, there were thousands of moving vehicles and humanoid figures that raced across the sand as if in a frenzy. On the other, the numbers looked innumerable as hundreds of thousands of machines crawled through the rising dust and seemed to cover the massive landscape of this once green paradise. Yet as dreadful as this scene would seem, the glowing object farther back to the mechanical carpet almost painted a more wondrous picture.

This machine was the source of the blue haze that covered the sky. As if born from the heavens itself, it hovered in the air, armor glistening in the fiery light of the sun gave the illusion as if it were untouchable. It's arms crossed over it's chest giving it that subtle look of grand superiority. It's body, shaped like a humanoid, it's own small differences. The head seemed almost minotaur-ish in nature, and a great large flexing tail snapped and crackled in the empty air behind it. The entire upper body was enlarged, like a bestial creature of fairy tales, pulsing with the same power that flooded the soon to be bloodbath. The legs were long and almost as thick but oddly reverse jointed. It looked as if someone had reached into the Odyssey and pulled out King Minos' favored creature.

Then as if like a signal from a god, the brilliant machine extended it's arm forward, and the army of vehicles and weapon platforms increased speed. The other army responded as well, increasing their speed as well. Soon, the two armies were locked in battle that would forever change the future of mankind and the face of the planet……. Once more.

Commander Victoria Pride gazed outside the bridge reinforced poly-glass windows and watched with a heavy heart as she watched the men and woman under her command go after an enemy that they knew they may not win against. What must it be like to fight with that mentality, she often wondered. Did they feel the same way she did? No, she doubted that. Not many people could understand the pain and anguish of sending people you know……no, ordering them to go out and defended a dying race with their lives. Of course she couldn't ask for no less either. Like this battle and so many others, too much was riding on this. If they didn't repel the enemy forces this time, it would be over.

"Pull up the 3rd and 5th divisions on the right flank, they're getting too close to our artillery." She ordered to the myriad of people behind her. All of them officers of some type regulating the battle with profound efficiency. Yet still as she stood tall and proud in her black commanders uniform decorated with many medals, safe on the bridge of the "Earth Preservers" most powerful battleship, the "Sui-Juris", she knew numbers didn't lie. Especially when you are outnumbered a hundred to one.

"Are the "Dominion Cannons" clear to fire yet?" She asked without turning around. The carnage of the battle captivated her.

Without missing a beat, First Officer Charles Reach replied, "No ma'am, we still have bombers trying to relinquish their loads. Air to be cleared in 20 seconds."

Victoria nodded and then asked another question, "Where are Stars nine and ten?"

Sitting directly behind the commander on a higher platform that overlooked the bridge, Charles looked back down on his console and quietly pulled up data on thus said squads. "I'm sorry ma'am but they were destroyed three minutes into the battle."

Victoria looked at her silver plated watch and looked at the digital readout. "That was only one minute and thirty-seven seconds ago." She spoke quietly

Charles looked at the clock readout on his screen upon hearing her and said with a heavy sigh, "Yes ma'am, that was one minute and thirty-seven seconds ago."

Victoria sighed as well and without even realizing had repeated every member of both ten man teams in her head twice. She had grown accustomed to them both and now they were gone like so many others.

"Ma'am." Charles jarred her from her self pitying moment, "The skies are now clear. We're ready to fire."

Victoria looked back at Charles then back to the erupting battleground. "Aim for their artillery."

Charles nodded and started barking out orders. "Laser Designators! Aim for Dominion Cannon assault!"

"Laser Designators One and Two, ready!"

"Pinpointing target's coordinates………Y-three-five-zero by X- negative one-two-three. Target cannons, vertical angle negative twenty degrees. Turn about fourteen degrees." Charles said with master precision.

"Turning about one-four degrees." Repeated the navigator.

"Targets, locked-on sir!" Informed one of the Laser Designators. "Ready to fire."

"Ma'am?" Charles asked one time to Victoria.

Victoria was quietly thinking aloud. "Since they have no capital ships here, the next best target would be either that mech or their artillery. Easier of the two targets though would be the artillery though it would require more shots."

"Ma'am." Charles repeated with more urgency.

Victoria swung her arm out and ordered, her long blonde hair flaring behind her, "Fire the Dominion Cannons!"

"Firing!" Charles repeated as the whole ship bucked under the stress of charging enormous amounts of energy into two massive cannons on both sides of the whale shaped ship. It's hovering bulk shone brightly for a moment as the two elongated barrels were filled with energy and then in no time at all, the same energy charged was propelled forward at a slight angle, straight to the back lines where the enemy artillery was bombing the infantry with blue colored orbs of light. The two yellow and white beams of superheated plasma darted towards their respective targets but were stopped cold turkey as the god-like mech appeared in front of them. Shooting it's hands up, it placed a shimmering mirage-like wall between it and the beams and then they were reflected off the shield like rocks on a wall. They spiraled madly as they shot harmlessly straight up.

Victoria watched, as did the others on the bridge that saw that, with empty gazes. Most of them now were scared out of their minds.

"They blocked the Dominion Cannons like nothing." One ensign gasped, not believing his eyes, "How are we supposed to fight against something like that?"

No one answered him. No one had an answer. They just saw their most powerful weapon get tossed aside like nothing. They had nothing else. But Victoria refused to give up so easily.

"We make a way. That's how we win." Victoria reached up to her face and tapped an interface that sat beside her right eye. Tapping it activated a roster of squads that she could see directly in her eye. Very handy in a jam. "Get me Rebecca's group."

Charles hesitated for only a moment then nodded in approval and tapped a few buttons on his console. It was risky, but he had learned to trust Victoria's judgment.

"Keep the truck steady Marcus!" Rebecca yelled out over the sound of a nearby explosion.

"I'm trying to Miss Rebecca. I'm trying to." Snapped back Marcus as he maneuvered the four-wheeler past the leg of a quad legged assault tank and then by the edge of a smoking recently made crater. Rebecca in the back seat of the open bed jeep pulled up a twin barreled rocket launcher. Targeting the back of one of the knee joints on the quad legged walker, she fired both of the rockets and completely shattered the joint causing the large mech to spin and find a grave in the sand.

"Yes! Another one down!" Rebecca cheered enthusiastically.

Marcus nodded with a faint smile and then noticed the beeping red button on the dashboard. But just before he pressed the button, he reached back for Rebecca and veered hard to the right to dodge an incoming tank-shell. Rebecca nearly fell over but found herself in the warm grasp of Marcus's large arm.

Marcus held on to her for a moment longer as he turned right in between one ally hover tank and five enemy Mobile Troopers gunning it down from all sides. He ran over two of them and Rebecca reached for the .250 caliber gating gun and mowed down two more and the hover vehicle gunned the last one.

Marcus finally found a relatively safe place, behind some Allied Mammoth Tanks armed with twin barrels of high plasma cannons and twin racks of Viper Missile Launchers pinning down a semi-large group of Mobile Troops and two high tower Mobile Turrets trying to move on their reserve jointed legs.

Once finding a somewhat sound area, Marcus pushed the red button marked com and watched the screen on the dashboard come to life with static. Rebecca turned around while re-arming her Infantry Level Viper rocket launcher and quickly put it down as she saw her commanding officer's face materialized on the screen. Drawing a quick salute, Marcus and Rebecca both called out over the sounds of the powerful Plasma turrets behind them going off,

"Commander Pride!"

Victoria waved them at ease and got straight to the point, "Rebecca, got a mission for you."

"Yes ma'am!" Rebecca barked like a dog awaiting orders from it's master.

"Since our cannons didn't work as we had hoped we need you to go up the left flank and up behind enemy lines to take out that artillery."

Rebecca tapped a button beside the screen and a small image of a gridline map revealed them the locations of 30 heavily armored Howitzer Artillery Tanks. She noticed that they were also escorted by three large groups of small and medium sized troops. Amble support considering they were behind the main force. So how could she get there? Without even bothering to question the near insane orders she and Marcus was given she tapped a button on her small headset under her light blue colored hair and called out for her other team members.

"Signus, Ricardo, Gina, Valentine, and Cam! Approach sector Y-three-five-zero, X-one-two-three and get ready to assault the artillery." Rebecca ordered.

Only Signus who was with Cam and Ricardo answered back.

First it was Signus with sounds of heavy gunfire nearly overcoming his heavy voice, "Rebecca we're pinned down over at Sector 3, no possible way to assist."

"Same here ma'am." Ricardo said in a barely audible whisper. Since he was always more quieter then the others, it always reflected, even in combat. With a sudden grunt he came back and said, "I'm locked in combat with several Mobile Troops and they are giving me a hard time."

"Damn it." Rebecca hissed. Then realizing that Gina and Valentine hadn't answered, she radioed them again, "Gina! Valentine! Give me your-"

"On our way Rebecca!" Gina shouted in her heavy northern accent, "Eta to set coordinates in seven minutes!"

Rebecca then turned to Victoria and asked, "Commander, are there any Swordfish fighters in the air?"

"You'll have them in five minutes." Victoria then yelled behind her with a sudden urgency, "Pull up shields on the port shield! Brace for impact!"

Rebecca, not knowing what was going on, turned back to the Sui-Juris. Marcus was already seeing the incredible yet frightening spectacle. Rebecca gasped in fear seeing seven green and blue energy beams coming from no where and striking the port side of the their only capital ship. She watched as a huge section of the ship seemed to slouch to one side and some large chunks of the ship crumbled to the group.

"No!" She shouted in fear. Then seeing that the Sui-Juris was still in the air, she calmed herself down. She turned back to the screen and saw only people scrambling in the background. There was debris everywhere and Victoria was no where in sight. But before the words could escape her mouth someone in the back shouted, "Commander Victoria!" Rebecca immediately recognized the voice of the ever watchful First Officer Reach.

Victoria then suddenly appeared none the worse for wear and told Officer Reach, "I'm fine Charles, Just get that complement of Swordfish Fighters in the air. And then redirect our remaining Dominion cannon to the opposite side of the Artillery, maybe we can fool that mech into defending an unimportant area."

'So, it was the Dominion cannon.' Rebecca said to herself. She then nodded to Her commanding officer and said, "Thank you ma'am."

"Rebecca!" Victoria called out before they dropped comms.

Rebecca awaited her next comment.

"Be careful and we're counting on you." She said with genuine worry.

Rebecca nodded and assured her, "They haven't won yet."

Victoria nodded again and then turned off her side of the com. With static filling the screen, Rebecca tapped it off and looked to Marcus.

Another salvo of cannon barrages erupted beside them and she asked him, "Think you can outrun a squad of Swordfish?"

Marcus turned to her and said calmly as he always did in the thick of battle, "Do you think they may be able to keep up?"

Rebecca grinned and strapped herself to the gun turret on the jeep and Marcus hit the gas peeling off as hard as possible. Leaving the cover of the now retreating Mammoth Tanks facing more units then they were earlier, they headed farther to the left through the heaviest concentration of units.

"Use the large vehicles as cover Marcus!" Rebecca advised.

"I know." He replied calmly

Turning the beat-up jeep under a trio of Quad legged assault tanks, he drove up the back of a much larger, Brachio-Tank. Then driving down the side, while avoiding a sudden increase of incoming fire, he hit the ground with a thud and took off at high speed toward the open side of the Artillery. He gunned the heavy duty engine and flew out of the heavy concentration of mechs and infantry and rode up a slightly slanted hill that lead to the large plateau the Artillery was resting on. Hitting the edge, his jeep soared through the air just as the Swordfish fighters came in with a huge array of missiles toward the unsuspecting units.

"Commander Victoria, Rebecca is now one minute and thirty seconds eta till target. Swordfish are twelve seconds behind them. And the large Mech is now pursuing them." Reach yelled over the increased commotion on the bridge. What with all the mechanics flooding in fixing shot panels and fired conduits and screens, no one could hear themselves think let only someone talking to them. And yet, Victoria always seemed to have an ear open for Officer Reach.

"Target sector 81, the heaviest concentration of heavy assault vehicles and fire the cannon! Let's give them two for the price of one." She hissed violently.

Reach and his fellow officers tapped their controls furiously hurrying to get the cannon ready.

"Y-axis, 276..."

"Angle correction for single cannon assault."

"X-axis, one-nine-nine….."

"Rerouting power from the disabled cannon to first and secondary generators, then after assault, rerouting all power to the Flare turrets and shielding!"

"Angle for single cannon, negative twelve degrees. Turn back two-eight degrees."

"Target's locked on, preparing to fire!"

Victoria pointed to the targets through the glass and yelled out the order, "Fire!"

Again ship shuddered with energy but not as much as before. The single cannon charged up with a vicious maelstrom of energy and propelled it to the large group of the largest armored vehicles.

The godlike Mech in the sky that was previously dashing to the artillery saw this and stalled for a moment. It only had seconds to react and it did. Dashing back to the other troops it stopped in front of the impeding beam and took the full brunt of it. The immense energy exploded violently against the mech causing as enormous veil of dust and smoke.

Everyone back on the bridge, once realizing that it actually hit were in a state of ecstasy.

"Direct hit Commander Victoria!" One of the other officers said. And as everyone else was fighting, the ones who saw it were shocked to say the least. But Victoria only stared at the glass with a hardened gaze. Charles had also seen her stone face poker gaze and watched the cloud of smoke and dust cover the nearby units but still concentrated around the area of the mech..

Victoria then gasped and yelled out turning to her crew, "Brace for impact! Now!!!!"

Charles had seen it too and was grabbing two guys jumping up and down, to the ground. Victoria as well had leaped to the side behind a newly reinforced panel.

From the center of the smoke was a flashing light and a series of beams erupted from the clever cover. Seven beams had streamed from the front and torn into the ship. Considering they never had a chance to reactivate the shields, the beams shredded most parts of the side hulls and sliced the other cannon right off the brackets supporting it. With the cannon falling down on their own people, they could do nothing but watch as it exploded violently on them.

At the exact same time, a hand appeared from the quivering cloud of smoke and another series of beams shot out from that hand and easily clipped the small complement of Swordfish fighters. Fortunately though, they had already unloaded their payloads and gave the artillery and their escorts a nasty blow before they were only fireballs in the sky.

Rebecca watched as the missiles hit their targets but didn't even bother counting the number of targets destroyed. She was more worried about the squadron pilots and the sudden debris falling over them like rain. She had to duck from debris falling everywhere. Marcus expertly turned the Jeep to dodge most of the large and small stuff but found one flaming piece fall directly in front of him. Nailing it at over seventy miles an hour, the vehicle flipped in the air and spiraled into a broken heap about forty feet away. Marcus had jumped out of the jeep at the first possible chance after it went airborne but couldn't get Rebecca out. Finding himself laying on the ground and unable to move, he passed out on the hot sandy ground.

Rebecca though had flew with the Jeep about halfway through the journey and was launched out into a wall of rocks that gave way to her small weight and allowed her to continue falling down a slick dark tunnel that continued for an almost unimaginable distance. She finally skidded to a halt at the bottom of the tunnel and almost passed out on the cold hard floor she now rested on.

The ceiling shook violently outside as Rebecca tried to move, finding it nearly impossible. At first she was scared that she may have lost the ability to move but then found herself even more scared due to the fact that she had no idea where she was right now. She closed her eyes for a moment, then sensed the pain that coursed through her body. She guessed that meant her nerves weren't severed. At least most of them and it also gave her the sense that she might be able to move after all. She started with the little stuff first, letting her military training kick in to help her out of this. She willed her fingers to move and they did. A little bit at first then into a closed fist. Then she focused on her feet. Letting them move a bit getting her the satisfaction that she might be fine after taking that tumble. That was a miracle. She slowly picked herself up, trying to ignore the magnitude of pain racing through her whole body and finally found herself at least on her knees. She closed and opened her eyes again and found her vision clearing up from earlier, now she could see that she was in some type of really dark room with a dull blue light coming from somewhere. She still couldn't see completely.

She reached up fro her headset, disappointed to find it missing. Then she reached for her sidearm and found it missing as well. So now she was in some type of dark room without any weapons. Great. She decided that it was best to get up all the way and pushed herself up bracing herself on what felt like a metallic wall. Shuffling her way around the room, she could barely see or think right now. She felt a slight pulsing pain on her forehead and decided to go against common sense and touch it. Immediately pain raced from a large knot that had taken up shop on her small forehead. She also felt some slick ooze between her fingers. Guessing through the darkness that it was blood didn't take much effort but that was a bad sign. Hopefully she wasn't bleeding that much.

Suddenly the room quivered yet again from another nearby explosion. It sounded close but didn't feel close. Soon Rebecca started wondering where exactly was this room. Now wanting to get out, she decided to head for the mysterious blue light on the far side of the room. Hopefully it was a way out. Now walking to the light, she realized that the room was a lot longer then she had previously estimated……….A hell of a lot longer. Picking up some speed with her walk didn't even seem to make a difference. The light now had a shape, a line but besides that it didn't look like it was getting closer. With another shake startling her, she decided to go for it and burst into an all-out run. Besides she didn't have the time to waste and just walk, they needed her up there and she never forgive herself if something were to happen to the others.

Filled with a new sense of urgency, she doubled her pace and was basically running blind. And yet the light didn't move! She pushed her aching body to it's limits and the moment it seemed she had made it, she hit a wall at full speed. She fell straight back onto the ground with the wind knocked out of her. Seeing through the stars that suddenly appeared in her vision, she stood up and rubbed the large sore square in the middle of her forehead.

Suddenly another explosion, the strongest yet, almost sent her head over heels. She couldn't wait any longer. She had to get through this wall to the other side. Searching around for a panel, she felt a single button panel that was hidden amongst the darkness. But just as she pressed the button and found the wall itself separate, she questioned her actions and didn't think about what might be waiting on the other side.

However, she quickly realized that it was completely different then what she thought it would be. The bright bluish white light filled the room she stood in and nearly blinded. Her eyes though quickly adjusted and she found herself in a completely white room with a single item inside. The room itself was no bigger then a room you would find in a house. Yet, the thing in the middle was definitely not something you find anywhere.

Rebecca walked up to it and gasped once she saw what it was. She easily recognized it.

"A cryogenic unit?!" She whispered. She touched the frosted glass that stretched the length of the extremely high tech bed and wiped a bit off. It revealed something humanoid in it. She continued to brush off the ice blanket and gazed at the seemingly normal human face that was asleep. She looked at the strong youthful features of the teenage looking male and started tracing her finger on glass, outlining the boy's face. He had such a pretty tan that seemed to meld perfectly with his matted black hair. From the frost that was knocked off, it also seemed that the boy was in incredible physical shape. Comparable to that of Signus, and he was one hell of a strong man.

And, yet, something about this boy seemed odd. In fact everything about this place, seemed…..abnormal. Almost like it was out of date. It carried an old and ancient air around it with the illusion of shimmering newness. She almost pitied the boy. It seemed he was frozen for something, but it couldn't possibly be for this damned war. Such a waste. He seemed so peaceful sleeping there, frozen from the dangling reaches of time.

But something else was wrong. The shaking had stopped. Was the battle…….? No. It couldn't be-

Beep!

Rebecca knew that sound immediately. She whipped her hand up and tapped the comm button. "This is Rebecca. Hello!? Is anyone there?"

Nothing but static met her. Her heart just dropped with this then like the little beacon of light, a voice broke through the static and she couldn't be happier to hear the voice of her commanding officer.

"Rebecca?……..are you? You're signal…….breaking up." Supreme Commander Victoria spate through the static.

"I'm transporting coordinates now. And attempting to boost the signal." Rebecca said static with relief. At least their commander made it. But what about the others?

"Got them." Victoria replied with a fully boosted signal. "We're coming to pick you up. Eta, 20 minutes."

"Commander Victoria?" Rebecca wanted, no, needed to know how it ended. "What happened?"

Victoria was quiet for a moment and answered, "I have no idea. The Arcadian forces just up and left. Why I have no clue."

Rebecca suddenly felt unsafe in the white room and looked back at the boy in the cry tube. "I think I may know."

Terrible sorry about the long wait if any were waiting. I have been balancing a job, a club and school at the same time and that is not easy. Hope you enjoy.


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